xXInkedPhoenixX

Hmm. Both tough plants I think. Maybe the barbs are testing their limits with the plant. Maybe he should try blanched spinach! 🙂

I kind of googled that, they will eat plants but most people seem to be saying they wouldn't bother with Anubias. But being oportunistic fish that's possible. Does your cousin feed to sparingly?? Are there other softer plants in the tank? It seems they would go for those first if at all....

Glimmer, (pictured here) my accidental Mystery Momma was my snail most recently in Snail Hospital. She looks terrible (shell-wise) compared to her companions but in the end her oldest companion Escape' (can't get that accent over the last e, stupid keyboard) passed away in the last month. She was with me for well over a year and was actually companion to my Betta Kimono (pictured in my chat profile pic) in a 5 gallon when I first got her. She's (Glimmer) been motoring around well enough in the tank lately but I keep a watchful eye on her. Glimmer is still very pretty to me. I love her dark body and red dots.

Good question! What's in the tank with the plant and we'll start there!

Gosh Nanci, that's terrible, I'm so sorry. Having lost 1 in the bag on the way home I suspect it's nothing you did. I've never had .25 ammonia tests kill any fish- though I'm sure it didn't help. I'm wondering if the flashing/erratic swimming is a parasite or gill fluke. The QT tank they were in was stable/running/cycled?

I recently got 8 and in my research prior on the net they advised little flow and high light. That's pretty much what I have and they seem pretty happy. I'm sure as is usual others have kept them differently and they also work out fine.

@Guppysnail @eatyourpeas ...they sucker you in these little fish...and I am a sucker. What I liked about this little girl was because she's so white her eyes almost look like googly craft eyes you glue on puppets. Plus since I worked for an animal shelter I know that there are certain colors people won't adopt- black cats and dogs and white rabbits. I imagine it's the same for Betta- there were lots of beautiful multicolored boys and girls- even when they were single colored boys they were rather fancy- this was the only little girl who was one color and she was at the very bottom of the rack (not 3" off the floor). I took pity on the little thing. She was $2.99!!!!!!! What an insult!!!!!!!

Update: CPDs doing great. Their tank tested wonky from the last numbers today (pH took a dive, ammonia up a little- water change performed). Nitrate hasn't come up yet so though there was plenty "recycled" media from the old tank and I used Seachem Stability for the first 7 days the cycle may not be complete. I'll just keep a stiff eye on them every day and strip test. They are all active, good color and look healthy/no signs of illness. .....then there's the other thing..... I'm either super stubborn or not very bright as this week I ended up with a Betta. As with potato chips this is REALLY the last one lol. I got a baby girl. Maybe if I finish raising her in my tanks she will do better???!!! I don't know. She will not go with the CPDs however, she will be in the Flex9 that runs hotter (from 78 up to 82 without a heater). She's also about the size of my Ember Tetras right now so once she's loose in there as she grows she'll be used to them and there will hopefully be no conflict.

I run low tech and have had luck with Ludwigia Red Needle leaf. It grows pretty fast and I've been able to cut and re-propogate several stems. It stays pretty green in my tank.

All 5 of my tanks have lids, only 1 freakishly needs a heater (was 68-71 degrees for some reason). I credit a big part of my tanks not needing heaters BECAUSE of lids (the other four bottom out at 75 and get as high as 82).

@Odd Duck My olive is a girl. I wonder if gender makes any difference.

@Torrey it just so happens that one of my spiked friends was on the cucumber slice this morning. All three are this size. That's interesting for sure. My Olive nerite I've seen on the plants plenty. The Zebras are definitely surface workers and if I think hard enough about it I've never seen mine on the plants. Maybe that's why my angry man tank is so clean- it's the one that has the 3 Spiked Nerites.

@amr427 that it is, very helpful! We all have knowledge that can fill others' needs and experience.

@amr427 This is the Hygger sponge filter I put in the back chamber: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XZ831WR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and this is the pump I found for my 9: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QMHRPW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a flex9 after getting advice here on the forum. Fluval Flex series anyone? I also have the flow bar that @amr427 has from the same seller more than likely. It worked great for reducing flow. However I ended up having to buy an new pump from amazon because the original pump took a dump on me and I couldn't figure out why. So thankfully I found one that fit AND that has a flow controller. Because the original equipment failed I also added a small Hygger sponge filter to the 1st chamber that has a back up lithium battery so if the power goes out the tank still has some filtration. It's likely at a small disadvantage being behind the wall but something is better than nothing. I also put the original flow nozzles back on because of the new pump. But to the theme of this post- I like my aftermarket pump better- I can control the flow.

Wow so cool, so the fry just hang with a parent?

I have 35 of my homegrown Otos in a 10 gallon. As you might imagine there's no short algae to be found anywhere (there's some hair algae that grows on the swords in there. I feed them Hikari Algae wafers (they were raised on them) and English cucumber (they have hated everything else I've tried). They can be picky eaters.

Literally @ARMYVET these guys:

@ARMYVET my "typical" Nerites- zebras are bigger. The horned ones look like they're characters from Jim Henson's Labyrinth

My nerites are less than the diameter of a dime.

They usually say 1 Nerite per 3 gallons. Those are typically pretty small. Potentially you can have 3. Nerites don't generally eat a lot of commercially produced food- so you might want to wait until your new tank starts to develop algae before you put them in there. The concern is the snails need enough food and most tend to stick to eating algae, biofilm off the surfaces of your tank. I have 3 spiked Nerites in a 20 gallon and they keep that tank super clean. On a rare occasion I see one of them on the cucumber I leave for my Otocinclus.

Hi @Helan, that is a yellow spiked Nerite snail (also called Tiger Eye). They are great little tank cleaners (females leave behind hard white eggs on plants, glass and other surfaces that are hard to clean off some people don't like that but they do not hatch in fresh water, some fish stores will take back females but inquire before you buy). They should be ok with a Betta, the only concern with snails and "aggressive" fish is they can sometimes harass them- some fish mistake snail antennae for worms- especially with Mystery snails. Thankfully Nerites have very small ones and aren't usually a problem. I've kept them with bettas and they did fine. It depends on the personality of the fish! 🙂

I would add check the stock at your local fish stores, see what they keep, ask about their water parameters and test if yours match.

Ooh! I forgot to add I have a feeder ring that was 3D printed and I've seen some pretty handy floating plant corrals.

I don't have a printer but I've purchased from people who do aquarium stuff- I have a 3D printed Betta tunnel, and modified grate covers, lid prop, feeder hole lid and spray bar all for my Fluval Flex. (oh and I've seen some really cool caves for fish too)